HUGHTON REFLECTS ON A GOOD WEEK

Brighton & Hove Albion manager Chris Hughton reflected on a very positive first few days in Tenerife, as his squad’s preparations for the new season gather momentum.

Albion’s players have been put through their paces in an intense pre-season training camp in the Canary Isles, and the boss says everything has gone according to plan so far.

He told SeagullsPlayer HD, “The first thing that we look for when we go away is the facilities, how good the good pitch is, and making sure we get a lot of the hard work done before we get back to the training ground.

“They’ve [the facilities] been excellent here. It always gives encouragement to the players to want to work harder.

“They’re a good group of players and other than the additions of Glenn [Murray], Steve [Sidwell] and the four of the young lads that are with us, they’re a group that very much knows each other and it’s been very comfortable so far.

“At the moment it’s gone very well. What we have experienced here is certainly what we expected.”

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Hughton explained the schedule his players have been working to throughout the week, and feels the squad will reap the dividends once the camp comes to an end.

He will end the week with an in-house friendly game, with young goalkeeper Robert Sanchez, full-back Rob Hunt, defender Tom Dallison and wide man Henrik Bjordal all set to feature.

“We arrived on Sunday, so in effect we’ll have six days training. On the sixth day, which is a Saturday, we’ll finish with an in-house game, where we’ve got plenty of numbers here to that.

“In these five days beforehand, on four of them, we’ll do three sessions. The first session is at seven in the morning, and that will be a mixture of either being in the pool, doing some running or work on the bikes.

“The two other sessions will mostly take place outdoors, but amongst that there will be two or three gym sessions.

“It’s a fairly heavy week and generally by the end of it, the players will be very conscious that they’ve had a tough week.”

The Seagulls manager went on to praise his new skipper Bruno and admits he had little hesitation in passing on the armband to the experienced Spaniard.

“It was quite an easy one I have to admit, just because he had the armband for a large chunk of last season.

“He’s been at this club for a while and he’s got a good affiliation with the supporters.

“He’s a hugely respected individual in the dressing room for his performances, what he gives the team, and the way that he trains and goes about his business on a daily basis for someone of his age.

“He’s certainly one for the younger players to look up to. In the end it was a fairly comfortable decision, one I’m very happy with and I’m delighted for him.”